About this book:

For seven explosive seasons, the World Hockey Association didn't just challenge the NHL’s monopoly—it shattered it. *Breakaway* drops you into the boardrooms and locker rooms of hockey’s most revolutionary era, where renegade owners like Gary Davidson and Jim D’Andrea weaponized the reserve clause, lured Bobby Hull with a historic million-dollar contract, and gave legends like Gordie Howe a final stage alongside teenage phenom Wayne Gretzky. It is the definitive chronicle of the league that forced the establishment to its knees, introducing European stars, sudden-death overtime, and a flashy, wide-open style that dragged a stodgy sport into the modern age.

Beyond the Avco Cup finals and the courtroom dramas that rewrote labor law, this is a saga of improbable franchise shifts, folded tents in Miami and Baltimore, and the birth of the Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques, and Hartford Whalers. You’ll witness the chaotic genius of a league that played by its own rules—sometimes literally—and meet the colorful cast of hustlers, visionaries, and Hall of Famers who bet their careers on a startup. *Breakaway* captures the grit, the greed, and the glory of a rebel league that burned bright and fast, permanently altering the DNA of professional sports.

When the dust settled and the merger was signed, the WHA was gone, but its fingerprints were all over the NHL’s future. Free agency, blockbuster salaries, and the global talent pool all trace their lineage to those seven renegade years. Meticulously researched and packed with never-before-told anecdotes, *Breakaway* is the essential history of the upstart league that lost the war but won the revolution—proving that sometimes, the only way to save a game is to break it first.